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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Flip Happy Crepes

Flip Happy Crepes is probably one of Austin's original trailer food stands, apart from the roving taco trucks. They've been around Austin for 3 or 4 years now (longer?), and have even survived an episode with the slightly obnoxious Bobby Flay on his "Throwdown" show. (I am sure the national exposure was fantastic for business though!) So after starting out in the lot where Olivia's is now located, just north of the Lamar & Oltorf intersection, they moved their Avion trailer to a lot about 2 blocks north of Barton Springs and 1 block west of Lamar, on Jessie Street. Plenty of parking, both in the lot and on the street. Picnic tables and folding chairs fill out their space.On the downside, somehow, I ONLY manage to go to FHC when inclement weather is looming. And it's with the same friend too! This is the second, though possibly third time we've been there, and the weather was not conducive to eating outdoors. I think this is the third time, once it was raining, and we ate in the car, and another time it was just hot out. Well today has been overcast all day. We're supposed to get some rain. And of course as we met there, and look at the menu board, the wind picks up. And a few rain drops start falling. Great.And it takes a fairly long while for the crepes to be ready, like 15 - 20 minutes. They do have a very polite sign up saying everything is made from scratch, it takes time, yada, yada, yada, but when it's windy and rainy, it's hard to be patient! But, as your mother says: good things come to those who wait. Ahhh, my little crepes! (Or not so little, as the case is.) We ordered the Roast Chicken (with caramelized onions, goat cheese & garlic cream), the Three Cheese (with gruyere, goat, & cheddar), and the Peanut Butter Chocolate for dessert, and decided to split all three items. Though we had asked for the meal to go, we ultimately decided to just brave the wind and eat at the picnic table. The savory crepes came wrapped up in paper, and given the climate conditions, it was not conducive to take a photo of it, especially since I would have had to cut it in half and prop one side up, etc. I am not a food stylist! But, they were delicious! The chicken one had a lot of goat cheese, which if there had been any garlic cream on there, it was overwhelmed by the goat. The cheese one also had fresh spinach and tomato in it. While they're not fat crepes, they are a good 6 - 7" long, and I am still full, after eating the equivalent of one.

Oh yeah, and dessert. We asked for the peanut butter crepe to be prepared without bananas, but when it came in it's environmentally better-than-styrofoam container, it did have them. No biggie, because it too was fantastic. A great blend of flavors and texture -- a pillowly PB & cream cheese mixture, stuffed inside a crepe, with dark chocolate drizzles, and chopped almonds. Not entirely sure what the chantilly cream in the description refers to. And if you look real close, you can see the raindrops on the table.So hopefully my next trip back will be on a nice sunny, spring day, where I can sit outside and enjoy my meal without the weather being a pain in the ass. I think I need one of each item on the menu, please.